How do I make Firefox forget HTTP Basic Auth?

How can I make Firefox "invalidate" it's saved HTTP Basic Auth credentials for a website from the client side?

Currently, I have to restart the browser, which is rather cumbersome with multiple tabs open.

Is there a way to do this without having to restart Firefox/clear the cache/etc.

Solution 1:

You can choose Clear Recent History from the History menu (Ctrl + Shift + Del, Macs: Cmd ⌘ + Shift + Del). You can then select to just clear Active Logins from the details to just clear those sessions.

In older versions of Firefox (such as FF3), Clear Recent History is under the Tools menu. The shortcut is the same.

Solution 2:

If you change username and password from the original session to one which will not authenticate, Firefox will destroy all reference to the old authentication and attempt the new one.

You can change/set authentication by adding user:pass@ to the beginning of the URL, example: http://user:[email protected]/

If you are logged into www.example.com with user:pass then typing (adding to the beginning of the address) anything@ will cause this to happen, example: http://[email protected]/

A fast fix which doesn't require any plugins.

Please note this only works for HTTP Basic Auth.

An additional side benefit is this will affect only the website you are interacting with. All other logins to any other website will remain active.

Solution 3:

The Web Developer toolbar allows HTTP authentication to be reset within a browser session.

From Firefox's Context Menu, choose Web Developer -> Miscellaneous -> Clear Private Data -> HTTP Authentication.

Solution 4:

Make the request from a private window.

In Firefox: File - New Private Window (Ubuntu Ctrl+Shift+P)
In Chrome New incognito Window (Ubuntu Ctrl+Shift+N)